Administration is seeking direction and input from the City Commission on the design plans and recommendations by Dover, Kohl, & Partners for the future use of the North Beach West Lots.

BACKGROUND

The City-owned property known as the “West Lots” consists of 8 city blocks of land located on the West side of Collins Avenue, directly across the street from the North Shore Open Space Park. Currently, four of the blocks are developed as off-street parking, two blocks are vacant, and one block is being temporarily used by Ocean Rescue for their headquarters, and one block is being utilized by the Parking Department. The North Beach Master plan identified the West Lots as highly potential spaces for future mixed-use development. It is believed that the development of these lots have the opportunity to add additional recreational/civic spaces as well as retail and dining options to the neighboring community. The master plan  suggested two scenarios for potential development: 1) Mid-rise and residential development on four of the eight lots to be considered for public/private partnerships, with the remaining four lots to remain available for civic uses; 2) primarily public uses such a hotel, various active public and civic spaces along with a parking structure. Both of these scenarios were included in the adopted North Beach Master Plan.

A resolution was passed at the December 13, 2017 City Commission meeting authorizing the City to hire and retain Dover, Kohl, & Partners, the principle designers for the North Beach Master Plan, to develop a conceptual design plan for the future development of the West Lots. The City entered into an agreement with the agency in April 2018. 

At the December 13, 2017 Commission meeting, a resolution was adopted authorizing the City to retain Dover, Kohl, & Partners (DKP) to analyze and develop a design plan for the future use of the eight vacant West Lots. The baseline for this analysis came from the recommendations and ideas put forth from the North Beach Master Plan. The plan identified the West Lots as potential catalytic development sites that could increase economic opportunity and neighborhood vibrancy. 

Beginning the week of April 30, DKP hosted a series of community charrettes and meetings to inform this conceptual design plan. At the public ideas kick-off session on Monday, April 30, 2018 Dover Kohl led participants in an interactive exercise that allowed residents to provide input on how they would like to see the West Lots developed.

Following the kick-off session, Dover Kohl held open studio hours at the Miami Beach Rowing Center on Tuesday, May 1, 2018 and Wednesday, May 2, 2018, allowing for community members to provide input on the West Lots and feedback to potential usage ideas. A public share out session was hosted on Thursday, May 3, 2018 where members of Dover Kohl provided a summary of ideas and concepts that were generated from the weeks public meetings. Additionally, DKP had individual meetings with the Commissioners to solicit feedback and ideas to integrate within the design plans.

A parallel recommendation was also developed by DKP in regards to potential placement and usage for the Log Cabin. This was reviewed and discussed at the May 18, 2018 Finance and Citywide Projects Committee, with Committee direction to place the Log Cabin in the North Shore Oceanside Park and to restore the Log Cabin for a mixed used community center to operate as a café or concession. This resolution was passed at the June 6, 2018 Commission agenda for approval.

On June 6, 2018, Jason King from Dover, Kohl & Partners presented the initial findings and ideas to the Commission. Jason reviewed the feedback generated from the public forums and the overall consensus for resiliency, temporary structures, and creating an active space for the passive park across the street (North Shore Oceanside Park). The Commission directed Staff and DKP to further analyze parking and the increase need for parking within the West Lots. Commission also directed DKP to run a cost analysis on the development of these vacant lots and the economic impact both to the City and the North Beach community. 

The Commission requested that Dover, Kohl, & Partners finalize their recommendations and present at the June 27, 2018 City Commission meeting.